Sulukule - From Past to Present: A Jane Jacobs Walk

Abstract

City building is not solely creating a city with its physical structures. Laying emphasis on this fact, in her book “The Death and Life of Great American Cities”, Jane Jacobs underlines cities as an ecology formed by processes operating with its existing dynamics like its structures, economies and ethics. (Rowe, 2014). Jane Jacobs, having her name frequently mentioned in America with her texts, speeches and civil initiatives in which she stood against emerging large-scale urban renewal projects in 60’s, also became one of the leading names whose studies were cited, when it comes to urban renewal and transformation projects. Jacobs, in her aforesaid book, introduces a reading adopting ‘street’ as a base unit and she manifests a body of strategies including intervention mechanisms and management strategies for today’s cities, by analyzing cities of success and their dominant dynamics. In this article, based on these strategies, two urban transformation projects for Sulukule Urban Area, those casted completely in different molds of design, are examined. The spatial design criteria proposed by the examined projects are assessed through Jacobs’ terms, the success of the applied project is questioned and suggestions offered for revitalization by refunctioning the area which lost its dynamism after the implementation.

Keywords: Jane Jacobs, Sulukule, Urban Transformation, Urban Renewal.